Sherryl L. Crowder, 38, Manhattan, died Sept. 8 in Topeka.
    She was born Dec. 2, 1951, in Anderson, Indiana.
    Mrs. Crowder was a sixth grade teacher in Wamego School District 320, teaching in the West Elementary School.
    She married Darrell Crowder on Sept. 29, 1989. He survives of the home. Also surviving is her mother, Margaret Stanke, of Manhattan. Services will be 10 a.m. Friday at the Edwards-Yorgensen-Meloan Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ben Duerfeldt officiating. Burial will be in the Valley View Memorial Gardens Cemetery east of Manhattan.
    A memorial fund has been established for Wamego School District 320 as a scholarship fund, with contributions left in care of the funeral home.
    Friends may call any time Thursday or Friday until service time at the funeral home.

obituary from The Manhattan Mercury

Wamego mourns teacher

WAMEGO -- Teachers and counselors at Wamego West Elementary School this morning consoled children grieving over the death of a sixth-grade teacher who was found dead in the trunk of her car Sunday morning in Topeka.
    Topeka police found the beaten, partially clothed body of Manhattan resident Sheryl Crowder while responding to a suspicious vehicle report. She had last been seen alive Friday night leaving a Topeka nightclub.
    "We are working on the assumption she was beaten to death," said Topeka police Lt. Bud Brooks. He said his department is working with Riley County police, Wamego police and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
    All available USD 320 counselors were at the elementary school this morning to talk to children and teachers, according to district superintendent Norris Wika.
    "When you work closely with the teachers over the years, the faculty becomes family. This is the loss of a family member," Wika said. "She was a very capable - hard-working teacher who was well regarded by her colleagues."
    Crowder, 38, started teaching at Wamego West in August 1982. This year she had 24 students in her sixth-grade class.
All but a handful of children at the school knew about Crowder's death before school began this morning, said B.J. Kerr, director of special services for USD 320. Kerr said teachers began the school. day by talking about Crowder's death with their entire class. Students then were allowed to talk to counselors individually or in small groups.
    "We are dealing with what issues (the children) bring to us, and that it's OK to be in a period of grief," Kerr said. "Kids are very resilient. They are doing very well. The teachers are to be commended. Many of them are grieving.
    "We are all trying to get through today. It's such a shock for everyone," Kerr said.
    Wika said that, while staff and teachers are exceptionally busy this morning the building has "an atmosphere of calm." He said plans have not yet been made for a memorial service.
    In Topeka, police are piecing together Crowder's background and her whereabouts between 11 p.m. Friday and the time she was found Sunday, as they await the results of an autopsy performed Sunday, Brooks said.
    The autopsy results will reveal whether Crowder was sexually assaulted -- a possibility police are not ruling out, Brooks said.
    According to Brooks, Crowder was in Topeka to visit a friend. She last seen alive at about 11 p.m. Friday leaving Sneakers nightclub alone. Brooks described the west-central Topeka club as a "young person's club -- early or late 20s."
    Topeka police found Crowder's body at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday in the trunk of her car. The car had been abandoned in a field a few blocks from Sneakers, Brooks said.
    "We're trying to fill in the blanks," Brooks said. Police think Crowder died sometime Saturday.
    Brooks said 20 Topeka police detectives have been assigned to the case and this morning had no suspects or motive for the killing. He said Crowder was married.

article from The Manhattan Mercury, September 10, 1990

18-year-old Topekan Peter Spencer was convicted of Sherryl's murder.
In September of 2018, the Topeka Capital-Journal's cjonline.com posted a blog about the case.